Korean man arrested for running sex ring at HCMC restaurant

Hwang Chang-Nam, 43, and four Vietnamese managers at the Joy restaurant on Nguyen Thai Binh Street of District 1 for brokering sex services, police said Monday.

The arrest came after police put the restaurant under surveillance for a period after detecting suspicious signs of prostitution. The restaurant has 30 karaoke rooms that are not legally registered.

On the night of Dec. 30, police busted the restaurant and found many South Korean customers in karaoke rooms served by female staff.

At the same time, two other task forces inspected AKOYA hotel on Ly Tu Trong Street of District 1 and an apartment at Sunrise Cityview building in District 7 and detected three female staff of Joy restaurant offering sex services to customers, as assigned by the restaurant's managers.

As soon as they learned about the inspection, Hwang Chang-Nam and the four Vietnamese managers at Joy fled to localities nearby HCMC but could not escape the police.

Based on the testimonies of managers and files seized from the restaurant, police determined that Hwang owned the restaurant and directed the recruitment of nearly 200 young and good-looking female employees to offer sex services to serve South Korean customers.

The restaurant sends luxury cars to pick up passengers, serve them food and drinks and allow them to experience the service, either at the restaurant or at a hotel or an apartment as arranged by the restaurants' managers.

Initially, the investigation agency determined that the restaurant owner and his accomplices profited more than VND20 billion (US$822,000) from prostitution brokerage services.

Police are expanding the investigation.

HCMC police are enhancing raids against criminal activities ahead of the Lunar New Year.

They have busted a series of prostitution rings in recent days, including one run by an airline captain and another by a Chinese restauranter targeting foreign customers.